The Wellington-based ensemble Tararua takes listeners on an intimate journey through southern Aotearoa in a concert for Chamber Music New Zealand in the Loft at Q Theatre.
Tararua Photo: Supplied
From their programme notes:
“With the use of taonga pūoro, cello, bass, and vocals, Tararua recreate a sound world that simultaneously makes its home in both the ancestral past and the world of the mokopuna of Te Waipounamu.
“Bird Like Men weaves together a story of survival, tradition, kinship, and honour that stands to this day in the mana of this multimedia presentation.
"Waiata, compositions, and improvisations are threaded together with the tale of a southern whānau navigating their way through the physical, spiritual, and emotional landscape of their ancestral home. As the audience is immersed in this timeless realm of story and song, a web of ancient sounds is woven across us all as we move across the year towards the rising of Puaka, the marking of the new year for the southern iwi of Kāi Tahu, ending our time together in remembrance and rejuvenation under bright lights within a dark southern sky.”
(Puaka is the star known in English as Rigel in the Orion constellation.)
Tararua are: Ariana Tikao (vocals, taonga pūoro), Ruby Solly (vocals, taonga pūoro, cello), Alistair Fraser (taonga pūoro), Phil Boniface (double bass)
Recorded, mixed and mastered for RNZ Concert by Rangi Powick, 23 July 2022.
